True Story: Replicating the Leak

Gosh, I never posted this. The plumber came over for my birthday in 2016. That wasn't the plan, but it just worked out that way.

True story: This is our conversation. That's me in the tub trying to "replicate the tub leak" I had seen last week. When I came downstairs where he was monitoring the pipe, we digressed into talking about cartoonists and Batman. I mentioned the Berndt Toast Gang show I was in at the Society of Illustrators. A then-new movie, "Batman vs. Superman" was coming out.

It's very rough and it's right from the sketchbook.

1958 Ford Times Film Short: "Watercolor and Printer's Ink"

Via George Mihal:

1958, WATERCOLOR AND PRINTERS INK is a film produced by the Ford Motor Company. The film takes one thru the process of creating the art and cover for Ford Companies, April 1957 edition of "Ford Times" magazine using two different 4 color processes, rotogravure and offset lithography printing. Sorry about the lack of proper color. The front cover is the focus of this film. Big Sur as a location is painted by California watercolor artist Rex Brandt, A.N.A. produced by, ALLEND'OR Productions The film follows the process of getting the scene at Big Sur on the cover of the April 1957 Ford Times travel magazine.

FEIFFER ON NIXON by Jules Feiffer

I posted this a while ago. It's about the amazing relevance of these Richard Nixon cartoons by Jules Feiffer, and what's going on today. My friend Michael Tisserand has taken this further, writing a piece about it over at The Daily Beast. Take a look.

And here's my blog entry (first publishing it in 2017, and then rerunning it this past fall), with samples of the cartoons:

You know that old saying that there is nothing new in the world, only the history you don't know.

I picked up a copy of FEIFFER ON NIXON by Jules Feiffer at the Fryeburg Flea Market on Sunday. I flipped thru it while standing at the seller's table full of paper ephemera. It was amazing how many of Feiffer's reprinted Village Voice strips, from 1960 to 1974, resonated now. I bought the book, of course, to share. Here are a few. The paperback was published by Random House. These are copyright Mr. Feiffer.

These points that Feiffer makes, about lying, about the congress, about racism -- are sadly on point today. I originally posted this in 2017. My friend Michael Tisserand posted about this on his Twitter account last week, adding this great interview by Studs Terkel. There is a whole new Studs Terkel WFMT radio show archive online now.

Walter Cronkite TV Show: "The 21st Century" March 12, 1967

What will life be like in the 21st century? Over fifty years ago, here's Walter Cronkite with some retro speculation:

1950s TV: "Let's Draw" with Television Cartoon Artist Frank Webb

1980s Video: Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons on Watchmen

From the Canadian 1980s comic book interview show "Prisoners of Gravity:"

A Milt Gross Cartoon: "Jitterbug Follies" 1939

Here is an animated MGM short in which Milt Gross' characters Count Screwloose and J.R. The Wonder Dog organize a talent contest in hope of snagging the prize money.

Jim Rugg " ... [I]t's like I'm looking for something. I don't find it, so I'm going to try to make it myself."

Comic book artist Jim Rugg and Cecil Castellucci talk to NPR about the release of the new hardcover edition of "The Plain Janes." The comic book series started as a graphic novel about female high school girls in 2007. One of the first popular graphic narratives about teen girls, the series was ahead of its time. Bill O'Driscoll interviews them.

JIM RUGG: I had just grown very dissatisfied with what I was seeing at the comic book store, which was mostly, you know, Punisher, Batman, 30 or 40-year-old white male protagonists. And they all just felt like the same.

O'DRISCOLL: This was around 2003.

RUGG: A lot of the stuff I make tends to be that way, where it's like I'm looking for something. I don't find it, so I'm going to try to make it myself.

 The audio and transcript are here.

From the Dick Buchanan Files: The Old Joke Cemetery

From the amazing cartoon clip file of Dick Buchanan, here is a selection of moldy oldies. There are over two dozen of these old bon mots, these groaners, these dreadful old jokes. You have been warned! But, hey, if you haven't heard these before, then they are all new to you. Thanks and take it away, Dick:

---


THE OLD JOKE CEMETERY
Laugh In Peace


In 1922, Fred Allen commissioned comic-strip artist Martin Branner (Winnie Winkle) to cover a theater curtain with an elaborate mural painting depicting a cemetery with a punchline on each gravestone and crypt. This was the "Old Joke Cemetery," where overworked gags go to die.

Sadly, Fred Allen’s curtain no longer exists. But, thanks to the Old Joke Recovery Act of 1953, the Old Joke Cemetery has been revived by the Cartoon Clip File. Today it consists of an assemblage of vintage gag cartoons clipped from old magazines and haphazardly pasted on the walls of Cartoon Clip File headquarters.

These are the gag cartoon versions old jokes now interred in the Old Joke Cemetery. No one recalls when or where these gags first appeared but they did and they’ve been with us ever since.

Here’s a chance to say goodbye to some favorite old jokes now interred in the Old Joke Cemetery . . . and keep in mind, some of these old jokes are merely resting and will likely re-appear now and again.


1. AL JOHNS. The Saturday Evening Post December 22 – 29, 1962.

 2. SYD HOFF. True Magazine June, 1952.

3. WALTER GOLDSTEIN. The Saturday Evening Post October 16, 1951.

4. PHIL INTERALNDI. Look Magazine December 31, 1962.

5. KAZ. Larry Katzman’s Nurse Nellie cartoons appeared in magazines, book collections and greeting cards. The Saturday Evening Post May 27, 1961.

6. MARTHA BLANCHARD. Look Magazine May 9, 1961.

7. GLEN BERNHARDT. Bernhardt was a West Coast cartoonist who founded the Northern California Cartoon & Humor Association in 1954. Collier’s May 20, 1950.

8. GARDNER REA. Look Magazine April 9, 1963.

9. NED HILTON. Collier’s March 11, 1950.

10. WILLIAM von RIEGEN. Collier’s November 4, 1950.

11. GLEN BERNHARDT. American Magazine June, 1953.

12. BORIS DRUCKER. The Saturday Evening Post June 11, 1949.

13. MICHAEL BERRY. Collier’s December 21, 1946.

14. BRAM. Martin Brammier, Jr. The Saturday Evening Post June 11, 1960.

15. JERRY MARCUS. Here! December, 1951.

16. SYD HOFF. Collier’s March 19, 1949.

17. HERB GREEN. The Saturday Evening Post July 20, 1957.

18. CHON DAY. Collier’s July 18, 1953.

19. PETER WYMA. The Saturday Evening Post April 18, 1959.

20. KATE OSANN. Collier’s April 15, 1950.

21. TUP. Bob Tupper was a popular “men’s interest” magazine cartoonist. a-Laugh-a-Minit January, 1956.

22. GARDNER REA. Collier’s June 26, 1948.

23. JEFF MONAHAN. 1000 Jokes Magazine March-May, 1958.

24. BILL KING. American Legion Magazine May, 1949.

25. JOHN NORMENT. The Saturday Evening Post June 15, 1957.      

How to Draw Graphic Novels Class

The graphic novel class that I taught at the Conway (NH) Public Library has come to an end. We started in September and ended just this Wednesday, meeting once a week (except for holidays).  This class was in addition to the History of Comics class I was teaching at the Institute of Art and Design at New England College.

It was an honor and great fun to teach the talented cartoonists who attend the Kennett Middle School. The three students created about sixty pages of sequential narrative with their own plots and characters.

There are stories about

• a playground that brings friends together,
  
• a battle between housepets and squirrels, and
  
• a lonely doll who finds love. 

All of these stories will soon be on display in the library.

Yes, there is talk of doing another class this fall!

Video: Robert Crumb Interview: A Compulsion to Reveal

From the Louisiana Channel, here is a rare, new interview with Robert Crumb. He was interviewed by Christian Monggaard in connection with the Louisiana Literature festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark in August 2019.